Taelia the Red
by Overrunner
Summary: A beta Tester and one among the 10,000 trapped players, Taelia didn't want to become the very first Red Player. She didn't want to be known as "Taelia the Red". She didn't want to kill. All Taelia wanted was to meet Kirito again. All she wanted was to get away from her parents. All Taelia wanted was to be seen.


"Hello Ms. Redfield I'm Kikuoka Seijirou. I'll be overseeing this investigation on behalf of the SAO Case Victims Rescue Force."

The young woman regarded the man with a cold and emotionless stare. This threw the older man off. From what he'd been told by many friends and acquaintances of Taelia was that she was friendly and a bit shy. Cheerful even. This was not what he had been expecting.

"Mr. Seijirou." She replied calmly, red eyes looking him up and down.

Kikuoka narrowed his eyes a tiny bit, trying to hide his suspicion but figures like Taelia always got him on edge. ' _Taelia Redfield. 16 when SAO first began, now 18. Known to be sociable, shy, a bit paranoid but nonetheless an easy investigation._ '

Taelia couldn't have been 5 feet tall. Like her eyes, her hair was a dark red and had grown down past her shoulders because of how long she was in SAO. Unlike most of the other survivors though who had looked frail and weak, she look well recovered and had good muscle tone to her tiny body in under a week.

Except for her leg. While she had her left leg crossed her right leg stayed straight out. It looked stiff and rather uncomfortable.

Sitting up straight in her position sitting back against the wall Taelia's hands let out an audible pop before she extended one out in greeting.

"Kirito speaks highly of you." Taelia spoke casually, eyes still void but no ulterior motives noticeable.

Setting his bag down, Kikuoka reached across the bed and shook her hand. It was a firm, strong and brief handshake. Sitting down in the chair beside her bed Kikuoka opened his bag and set his recorder beside Taelia and pulled out his Ipad for notes.

Clicking 'RECORD' Kikuoka cleared his throat before smiling warmly. Taelia calmly blinked, eyes unwavering.

"Ms. Redfield-"

"Taelia please." She interrupted, shaking her head slightly, eyes closed as she sighed. "I am not a Ms. I wasn't even out of home school when we were all trapped. And as for... "Redfield"... could you please not refer to with that surname for now? Please?"

"Taelia." Kikuoka corrected, jotting a note down.

 _Subject is sensitive about her surname. Note for later questioning. May_ _regard_ _to death of parents._

"So you were home schooled before the SAO incident?"

"Clearly." Taelia nodded, eyes drifting outside to the city.

"Was it a private Tudor or your parents that home schooled you?"

"My Aunt."

 _Subject was_ _home schooled_ _by Aun_ t.

"Ms. Redfield-."

"Taelia." She corrected again, a little more edge to her tone this time as she visibly gritted her teeth.

" _Taeli_ a if I may ask, are you aware your parents died in SAO about-"

"I am." Taelia confirmed before he could finish, a grim line forming on her face as she suddenly found her right hand to be very interesting.

 _Parents are a sensitive topic. Subject may have witnessed their deaths._

"Did you... see them die?"

Nodding, Taelia balled her fist up before turning her head back to Kikuoka. The older man blinked in surprise. Taelia's brows were furrowed and rage was clear in her eyes. "May we start the actual interview please? Or are we going to sit here discussing _the_ m all day? If so I will have to ask you to leave."

 _Subject refers to parents as_ _them_ _. Anger and irritation present._

"Of course. Forgive me Taelia. Just trying to lay some facts down for the record."

Eyes narrowing, Taelia waved her hand dismissively, rolling her eyes as a grin spread on her face. " _For the recor_ d." She muttered mockingly, chuckling slightly. "Please begin."

"Very well. Would you like to start with what you were doing pre-launch or would you like to get right into when SAO launched?"

"We'll start with the official launch. No need bringing up..." Taelia didn't finish, eyes flicking down to her hand again. The one where the scar was across her palm. ' _You'll_ _remember this pain girl._ '

"Taelia?"

Blinking, Taelia shook her head and lied down against the wall. "Just start with when SAO launched. No need bringing up useless memories."

 _Home life is a sensitive subject. NOTE: subjects home life before the SAO launch was under CPS investigation as well as Police Investigation._


End file.
